I hadn't told Una about the dream and where I ended up, I didn't want her to worry, and I hoped Septimus would do the same. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night as I kept tossing and turning over every little thought. And I was also worried I might end up in trance again. Then my thoughts moved to how Septimus decided to save me and the urgency in his voice, he could have easily let me leap from the window and that's what surprised me the most, he saved my life. Then my heart ached as I thought of the masked man, I needed to start letting go of the idea of him, the idea that he would be coming back for me, the idea that we had a future together, he was lost to me, and I needed to recover from the heartbreak. I was almost thankful when I saw the sun starting to shine through the curtains, it felt like the longest night of my life.

"Bella, do you think you could teach me archery today?" Asked Una as we were sorting some of her gowns in her room.

I sighed, I didn't really like archery, of course I could teach her but if it's anything I learned from my time at the Palace, she needed to defend herself and she wouldn't have time to run and find a bow and arrow.

"You need to learn a more practical style of defence. Archery is a hobby for bored courtiers" I told her as she laughed at my honesty.

"Very well, what do you suggest?" She raised her eyebrow at me.

"Perhaps some defensive moves with a dagger?" I suggested as I added "I would prefer if you carried around a dagger with you, tensions between your brothers seem to be at an all-time high."

Una shot up to her feet and instructed "Sounds like a sensible idea to me. Right, I'll go and source the daggers and you get the hall set up!"

"Oh wow, we are doing this now?" I laughed as I followed her out the door. We parted ways as I made my way to the empty hall. There wasn't anything to move as we didn't require too much space if we were only using daggers. I was glad that Una had suggested this, I wanted her to know a few basics. Not that I thought she was in danger but in case she was caught in some sort of crossfire.

Una walked in with two daggers in her hand, holding them completely unfamiliar as she was followed in by Septimus. My face dropped as I saw him; I hadn't seen him since he saved my life and I felt too awkward to make eye contact to see what sort of judgement he was casting on me.

"Guess where the daggers came from" laughed Una, making light of the situation as she watched us stare at each other. It wasn't the usual glare however, this one seemed different, and we didn't know quite how to acknowledge each other. I blinked and fluttered my eyelashes to break the standoff and moved my gaze back over to Una as I smiled "Let's get started then!"

However, I wasn't very keen on Septimus watching us, I'm pretty sure he would likely be pulling all sorts of faces and trying to give his own direction. It's not how I had planned to train Una with him breathing down my neck.

I placed Una into position and told her we would start off very easily and for now, we'd keep the blades covered. Funnily enough, I showed her pretty much the same move as had I pulled on her older brother, Secundus, directing her to grab my wrist with the dagger in and pull it away whilst trying to come round for my knee. We tried a few times but fighting clearly didn't come natural to her which didn't surprise me being the kindest soul I'd ever met.

"I promise I will pick this up, maybe a few more goes? Perhaps a bit slower?" She asked, eager to learn.

I smiled, I'm not sure if I could show her the move even slower than we were but I obliged as we attempted a few more times. I saw Septimus to the side of me, threw his hands up in frustration at watching, I was quite surprised he had left us this long to be honest.

"Una, please stop" he sighed as he made his way over to us and took the dagger from her as he continued "You are a visual learner, so sit down and take notes".

Una surprisingly didn't protest at her brother's forceful orders and went over to the benches. So, there I was, faced with Septimus as my opponent. His tall frame looked quite intimidating now he was in front of me as he pulled his hair back from his face, why hadn't I noticed what a strong jaw he had before? I shook my head, where did that thought come from? I bit my lip, feeling a little apprehensive as the last time I fought one of Una's brothers it didn't end well for either of us.

"Well Bella, do your worse" he instructed like it wouldn't be possible for me to beat him.

I pulled the dagger out of its sheath and smirked "If you insist".

Una went to stand up and ordered "Please, don't be reckless!"

We both ignored her protest as he looked amused at the added risk as he also removed his dagger from its sheath and positioned ourselves. Being a gentleman, he let me take the first hit. I had grabbed his wrist and pulled it away from him and tried to topple him over, trying to demonstrate the move to Una so it was quite the obvious first move.

That's when things started to get a little heated. The thing with fighting with daggers is that it's more skilful as you are always so close to you opponent. It would just depend on how quick you wanted to kill your opponent with how long you took.

He briefly grabbed me by the neck, but I quickly stepped my heel onto his foot which made him release his grip. Not long enough as he then made another charge for me, he was quick, but my small frame allowed me to escape him. I didn't look over at Una as I didn't want to see her worry and feel bad for making her so.

He then managed to catch me with his dagger into my dress as I exclaimed "Don't play dirty!" And I pulled away from him, making a tear in my dress. I stalked over to him and elbowed him hard into the ribs, making him winded and kicked him to the floor as he gasped to get his breath back. However I let my guard down, I stood too close to him for a second longer than I should have done and he managed to grab my leg and pull me to the ground next to him. I went to get up, noticing he was still recovering but he went for me again, pulling me once more. This time I toppled over flat onto my back as I reached for my dagger. I didn't get time to react as I saw the prince making his way over to me, I tried to get up but he knocked me down yet again. Annoyed, I then threw out my leg to make him trip and trip he did, as he landed on top of me. His face was inches away from mine as I looked up into his eyes. It felt like my heart stopped for a few seconds, why was his close approximately doing this to me? I thought I saw his face inch even closer to mine for brief second, but it couldn't be possible.

"Do you yield?" He whispered as I felt him press his the cold blade against my neck.

"Do you?" I whispered back, digging my dagger into the left side of his chest. He gave me that stare again, the one I couldn't read. The one that made me feel funny.

And then the trance was broken.

"Well, I'm glad you two have got that out your system" smiled Una as she looked down at us both still on the floor, still on top of each other. She didn't give us time to deny it as she strolled out the hall with a skip in her step.